Morning Sun Mindfulness Center and Community

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Ecological
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 2004

What we do

Morning Sun is a mindfulness center and residential community committed to bringing a spiritual dimension to family life and society.
With 240 acres of beautiful hills, forests, and ponds in Southern New Hampshire, Morning Sun is developing residential neighborhoods, a retreat center, and an organic farm and craft center.
Intent on engaging important social and environmental issues from the stability and clarity generated by a daily mindfulness practice, Morning Sun is working to create a wide range of programs for adults, families, and children.
The MorningSun Mindfulness Center is always striving to develop new paths for mindful and compassionate living. Our programs build skills founded on each participant’s capacity to live and work from a place of peace and clarity within themselves. We strive to send program participants out into the world as inspired and stable people; capable of offering effective, fulfilling and healing action to the world.
Through an active and caring relationship to people, animals, plants and soils in the region, we are examining our actual needs and our desire for comfort, and changing our patterns of consumption, in order to develop sustainable and even regenerative livelihoods and lifestyles. When we are truly happy, we need very little, and our time and energy can go towards serving others.
All of this comes together in the unique programming that MorningSun provides bringing a spiritual dimension to the work of developing a sustainable culture for people of all ages.
Our spiritual practice is grounded in the Plum Village tradition of Buddhism, founded by Vietnamese monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh. However, we are all deeply influenced by many spiritual and secular traditions and there is a place for all forms of spiritual practice at Morning Sun.

Our Mission

A socially and ecologically engaged retreat center and residential community based in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, we practice living mindfully, developing and sharing our capacity to live in peaceful and harmonious relationship with ourselves, other people, organizations, and with the Earth.

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Ecovillage
  • Spiritual Retreat Centers
  • Sustainability practices
  • Regenerative agriculture or permaculture
  • Activities
  • Property management
  • Education
  • Experiences

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2004
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2009
  • Started living together
  • 11 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
23

How to join

Attend programs, visit a lot, get to know each other and develop compatibility. Then through a formal letter of intention, the deeper process can begin to become a residential member or steward of MorningSun, which will involve a trial stay of 6 months or longer and consensus decision. So its good to get to know everyone at least a little bit.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Please email us to arrange a visit. The best way is to come to one of our programs. Register online.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Decision-making process

  • Modified Consensus

Generally seek agreement, but have backup methods when consensus isn’t reached.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a one-time fee, investment, or share purchase to join the community separate from accessing housing
  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Join fee: Yes
Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Encouraged or suggested

Frequency of communal meals

  • About once a week

Dietary type

  • Vegetarian Only

Dietary restriction

  • These restrictions are throughout the community

Community activities and engagement

  • School, Educational Institute or Experience
  • Volunteer, Internship, or Apprenticeship, or WWOOF’ing
  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association
  • Festivals, Conferences, Events

Substance use culture

  • Substance use is prohibited in the community
  • Religions
  • Buddhist

Age demographics

  • Family-focused (many children and parents)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

Setting

  • Rural

Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.

Community type

  • Cohousing

    Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
    interaction while maintaining independence.

  • Ecovillage

    Integrated communities designed around ecological principles with sustainable living practices.

  • Spiritual Retreat Centers

    Residential communities focused on providing space for meditation, spiritual practice, and personal growth retreats.

Sustainability approach

  • Regenerative agriculture or permaculture

Self-produced energy

  • 33 - 66%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%
  • Land area size
    243 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • New Hampshire, United States

Morning Sun Mindfulness Center and Community

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

  • Promoted
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
5 days ago

Beautiful 3+ Bed, 2.5 Bath Townhome in Established West Emerald CoHousing, Seattle

A rare home is available at West Emerald Cohousing, an established all-ages intentional community in West Seattle. For those considering a move to the Pacific Northwest—or hoping to join a mature community rather than one still in the forming stages—West Emerald offers decades of community life, beautiful gardens, shared resources and a peaceful setting within the city in a convenient location since 1999. This unit has a unique floor plan that is ideal for co-buying, co-living, or for one household. The home itself offers a flexible 3+ bedroom, 2.5 bath layout: Garden-level room with a separate exterior entrance and half bath—ideal for a home office, studio, guest space or client-facing business Main-level bedroom and full bath, laundry, making one-level living possible Open great room with large windows overlooking gardens filled with birdsong Well-designed kitchen with generous storage and pantry Two additional light-filled spacious bedrooms and a full bath upstairs Thoughtfully maintained and updated Located at the end of a common pathway for added privacy and garden views, Just feet from parking, which is out of view West Emerald community amenities include: Common House with gathering and activity spaces Community meals and events Mature gardens and shared outdoor spaces Workshop/maker spaces and bike barn Exercise room EV charging opportunity Excellent Metro access to Downtown Seattle just minutes away Nestled into a dell, it’s Seattle’s best-kept secret South Seattle College and lifelong learning, NW Wine Academy, the Seattle Chinese Garden are nearby, with easy access to Alki Beach, Lincoln Park, magnet schools, ferries, and the shops and restaurants of the West Seattle Junction. 6000 17th Ave SW, Seattle, WA Is a wonderful opportunity to have your own comfortable, private home while becoming part of a vibrant and well-established Seattle all-ages cohousing community. For more information contact the friendly Realtor at 206-579-9066, or at ki**********@**********te.com who will be happy to meet you there or do a facetime tour.
Need
  • Events
4 weeks ago

Restoring Choice - free online practice group, from Australia

Restoring Choice – free sessions and a practice group Many of us are less practised at three things than we realise: making clear requests, saying no when it isn’t a full yes, and hearing no without something getting damaged. These aren’t personality traits. They’re capacities that were trained out of many of us by ordinary structures – families where some needs were allowed and others weren’t, workplaces that reward overstretch. They can be trained back. Why this might interest people here Most communities teach communication after people arrive, once conflict has already surfaced. This works the other way round – building capacity first, and finding out what a group can do when most people already have it. What’s running Free 60-minute introduction, online. Same session each time; come to whichever suits. Register for intro session below: https://events.humanitix.com/reclaim-your-power-with-restoring-choice Four-week practice group, Tuesdays from 15 September, 6:30-8:00pm. One session a week, and at least one short written entry a day about a real situation in your own life. The writing is the actual work; the sessions support it. Sign up by Sunday 13 September. Register for practice group below: https://events.humanitix.com/restoring-choice-practice-group Everything is free. Times are Australian Eastern 6:30pm here is the early hours in most of the Americas. Worth checking before you register. Who it’s for No prior experience needed. It isn’t therapy, and I’m not a therapist. Many people find that looking honestly at how well they ask, decline, or hear a no is less flattering than expected. That’s common, and it isn’t a verdict on anyone. Run by Glenn Russo – 13 years practising this material, seven years co-facilitating an NVC practice group in Castlemaine. If you’re already living in community and would rather share what you’ve learned than join anything, I’d like to hear from you too.
Need
Offer
  • Professional Services
2 days ago

Rebalancing your pet's well being (also looking for intentional community of animal lovers)

🌿 Can animals look after their own well-being? Science says yes! Zoopharmacognosy is the fascinating behavior in which animals self-medicate by selecting, inhaling, or topically applying plants, soils, and insects with natural well-being properties. Applied zoopharmacognosy brings these principles into practical use, providing animals with sensory choices for general well-being and environmental enrichment. 🧠 Driven by Consciousness & Evolution The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness (2012): Signed by global neuroscientists, this milestone established that non-human animals possess the neurological framework for consciousness, intentional behaviors, and emotional states. Describing an animal experiencing fear, joy, or grief is a biologically accurate observation, not a human projection. Prominent advocates like Jane Goodall and animal lovers have always known this from personal experience! Innate Sensory Guidance: Only the animal knows the required plant and amount. This behavior is entirely guided by highly specialized senses of taste and smell, which is an evolutionary survival mechanism of animals. 👀 Incredible Behaviors Observed in Nature: 🐦 Birds (Starlings): Male starlings incorporate yarrow, wild carrot, and agrimony into their nests to ward off pests; chicks in nests lacking these plants suffer from significantly higher mite burdens (Clark & Mason 1988). 🦜 Birds (Parrots): Amazon parrots intentionally consume clay to neutralize toxic alkaloids ingested from wild plants (Gilardi 1999). 🐛 Insects: Parasitized caterpillars ingest specific plants rich in pyrrolizidine alkaloids to support their health (Singer & Bernays 2010; Smilanich et al. 2011). 🐒 Primates: Chimpanzees suffering from intestinal bugs intentionally select and consume bitter, anti-parasitic plants (Huffman & Seifu 1989). 🐑 Livestock: Lambs actively select plants high in tannins when dealing with internal challenges (Villalba & Provenza 2005). 🐘 Elephants: Excavate salt deposits to neutralize dietary toxins (Redmond 1992), and select botanical oils to support their natural defense mechanisms (Ingraham 2007). 🤝 How I Practice The IMIM approach honors the animal as an intelligent being capable of directing its own well-being by honoring its instinct and non-verbal language. I provide safe educational consultations to help you connect with your animal on a deeper level. (Contact me at ge*********@*****il.com to learn how to offer this sensory enrichment for the well-being of your animal!) ℹ️ Further Learning: Learn more about IMIM methodology, case studies and research at carolineingraham.com. ⚠️ Veterinary Disclaimer: Applied zoopharmacognosy is an educational and supportive tool for well-being. It does not offer veterinary advice, diagnose, or prescribe, and should never replace professional veterinary care.
Offer
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
2 weeks ago

Co-housing Unit For Sale in Portland Oregon

Light-filled 976 sq ft, 3-bedroom, 1-bath end unit in Columbia Ecovillage, Portland’sestablished cohousing community in the Cully neighborhood. With windows onthree sides, this ground-floor home gets natural light all day, even onPortland’s grey ones. The open living and dining area has warm hardwood floors and flows into akitchen with solid wood cabinets and granite counters. The dining roomwindows look straight into a native vine maple — a wall of green from springthrough fall. There’s good storagein the unit, plus an extra storage space in the community storage building.A ductless mini-split provides efficient heating and air conditioning, andthe plumbing was fully replaced in 2026. The primary bedroom has a full-width closet behind a sliding barn door; thesecond bedroom’s closet sits behind a pair of French doors. The thirdbedroom has no closet, which makes it a flexible room — guest room, office,or playroom. Step out the sliding glass door onto your own covered patio, which opens onto the community grounds: organic gardens, personal garden plots,greenhouses, a grape arbor, a bamboo grove, native plantings throughout, andtrees everywhere — including a truly massive old black walnut. The orchard alone is a reason to live here — to name a few:apples, pears, plums, figs, mulberries, chestnuts, walnuts, grapes,blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, in several varieties each. A75,000-gallon rainwater catchment system keeps it all watered through thesummer. Kids have a playhouse, sandbox, small soccer field, a favorite climbingtree, and a parking loop where bikes can circle but cars can’t; adults havea workshop, garden shed, fire pit, quiet space and big community porches. The common hall is the heart of the village: a commercial kitchen anyresident can use, a kids’ play area, pool table and ping pong, and asoapstone stove that burns every winter evening. Residents can reserve it forevents for almost nothing. The historic farmhouse has guest rooms owners canbook for visiting family (about 30 nights a year). Shared laundry rooms(three washers and dryers) come with indoor drying racks and outdoorclotheslines, and there’s a craft room and a trade room where things you nolonger need find a new home next door. Potlucks, communitymeals, work parties, and acres of safe space for kids to roam makethis a rare chance to own a home and a neighborhood at the same time. Built in 1973 and fully remodeled in 2008–09 for energy efficiency and healthy indoor air — metal roof, HardiePlank siding, and standard community-built finishes throughout. Nothing to update, nothing deferred. The $522 monthly HOA coverswater, sewer, and garbage, plus the roof, siding, exterior paint, and allstructural maintenance — and it’s what pays for the grounds, the common hall,and everything else described above. And it’s close in: Cully’s cafés andparks are a short walk or bike ride away, the rest of Portland’s food,music, and neighborhoods are minutes beyond that, and the commute downtownor to the airport is easy by car, bus, or bike – 3.7-acre grounds with organic gardens, personal plots, greenhouses, native plantings, and mature trees (huge black walnut)- Orchard: apples, pears, plums, figs, mulberries, chestnuts, walnuts, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries- 75,000-gallon rainwater catchment feeds the gardens year-round- Workshop, garden shed, fire pit, quiet space, community porches  

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